Posted
by
samzenpus
on Wednesday December 05, 2012 @10:30PM
from the meth-is-a-hell-of-a-drug dept.

Reports are coming in that John McAfee's on againoff again relationship with various law enforcement agencies has finally come to an end. According to interior minister Mauricio Lopez Bonilla, he has been arrested in Guatemala after trying to enter the country illegally.

After reading the timeline of events. It really seems like he didn't pay some protection money. First the police raid his house (for a meth lab) and drop charges, then after he donates to the police the next day all his dogs are killed. He definitely pissed off some people. So is he Crazy? I think hes so damn shaken up he cant think straight and tried to run because he honestly thinks he would be escape goat for a murder and might even be murdered himself.

From RTFA'ing, it seems that Guatemala and Belize have no mutual legal assistance treat and are, in fact, engaged in a territorial dispute over their border, so I am wondering why Guatemala would bother sending him back to Belize, as opposed to escorting him to the airport and putting him on the next plane out of the country, wherever that might be. Or Mr. McAfee* could certainly afford a flight back to the United States, Switzerland or pretty much any other place.

Even more strange is the report [cbsnews.com] from CBS News quoting Guatemala's Interior Minister Mauricio Lopez Bonilla that "McAfee was detained by police at a hotel in an upscale Guatemala City neighborhood with the help of Interpol agents" (emphasis mine) as Interpol agents do not have arrest powers. Interpol can request that someone be provisionally arrested in order for them to be extradited, but a search [interpol.int] of the Wanted Person's database on their web site reveals that no such "Red Notice" has been issued for John McAfee.

I do hope that Mr. McAfee is treated fairly by the Belizean authorities, and that his concerns of abuse and torture at their hands is simply an irrational fear.
Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

*I was told earlier that is improper to use a title of Doctor since his doctorate is an an honorary degree.

If his life was indeed in danger, he handled the situation well. By appearing to behave like a lunatic (on the internet), he got the attention of the international news media. This attention acted as a shield - rather like it does with Julian Assange.

McAfee has brought worldwide attention to the Belize justice system. Now if/when he returns to stand trial, he will be guaranteed a fair hearing. Belize has a growing tourism industry, and won't allow their efforts to be sabotaged by corrupt judicial officials.

In the event that it really was a case of Belize trying to set him up and him needing to get out, the US would almost certainly help him. It extends powerful protections to its citizens. He gets in the embassy, he's back in US territory and the rest isn't a big deal, given the US's resources.

However if you do a little digging you find that he's probably not on that good a terms with the US, and that's why he left. His move there wasn't because it is an unparalleled paradise or because he has ties there or something, it was because he was running from the US more or less.